Moreton Island

Went to Moreton Island yesterday. It's been raining the last few days but was fine the whole way we were there. The sand was still damp so the ride was much smoother than usual. I'm glad I went on a tour - my poor car wouldn't be going anywhere and I can't imagine myself going around in a 4WD. Stacks of people arriving for new year's eve as we were leaving.


sand boarding down "The Desert"


up at the headland where the lighthouse is

s701 dinner

Cyber City wasn't open so we ended up going to Super Bowl. Dessert at Freestyles was good. Here's a pic... (no they weren't all mine. I got the white chocolate cheesecake mmmm)

The Holiday

Well I'm not normally a sucker for romantic movies, but I have to give it to The Holiday. With good humour and a sprinkle of mushiness I'm giving it 5 stars. It was just what I wanted to see on my annual break.

Didn't want to go boxing day shopping today. Might go to DFO tomorrow to have a look - I still haven't been there yet.

Airport Security

This is good. I got to give it to the air hostess for not laughing out loud.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyg2x9tEiXU

New look

I've signed up to Blogger beta and it's pretty cool. I like the idea of drag and drop on a web page. I've also give the blog a new look. The green is getting a little boring. I just need to put a RSS feed on an I'm done.

Speaking of new look - I need a new hairstyle.

All tooled up

I've been doing courses in Project Management and ITIL, and I really enjoyed them. I meant really. Ok it's wasn't just the food/ice-cream. It's the content - I almost found the ITIL course (don't laugh) inspiring. It showed me how things (processes in ITIL world) can work together to achieve a bigger goal.

Thinking back I tried to avoid anything non-technical at uni - I even manged to talk myself out of a core business subject I had to do. I saw myself heading towards a career in IT where I don't have to be bothered with the business fluff. How glorious!

My perception has definitely changed. Nowadays I'm more interested in seeing how the pieces fit together to make things work. And I don't just mean technology - it's with people as well. Yeah people is the tricky bit and I have a lot more to learn. I am not looking forward to the politics though - I don't want to get eaten alive.

Saturday

Had a pretty full on day yesterday. Went to dance, then shopping with Peta and Chandni, then met up with Gab and Anthony for fireworks. I love fireworks (I said this last year already). I thought we would escape the crowd this year and go the the Story Bridge but the game was on at the Gabba (trust me to know when major sports events are on) so there was no where to park. We ended up at Milton and watched the barge near the Regetta. Yes there was no crowd but that's because there's not much to see from where we were. We only got glimpses of the show at South Bank and there was no music. But hey I got to watch some fireworks and that's all I cared.

And I can't get this out of my head since Saturday


Bounce wit it, drop wit it
Lean wit it, rock wit it
Snap wit it
All my ladies pop yo backs wit it
Do it do it do it do it
U know tha world be rockin' to it to it
So do it do it do it to it

My MeeGo

I got my TechEd MeeGo. Does she look like me?? Cute monkey huh?

Microsoft protection

For the last week I went on with no up-to-date "Microsoft protection". MS Antispyware expired end of last month. Now although I can still do scans with it by changing my system clock to some time last month, I should really be updating to Windows Defender.

So off I went to the MS site, downloaded GenuineCheck.exe because I don't want to install another ActiveX and downloaded the msi. The msi won't install saying I'm missing an update. There was no message except for a link to the requirements page. I checked the systems requirement and sure enough I have what it claims on the page. I did a search in google (as usual when I get any problems) and found hacks all over the place on how to bypass genuine advantage. I must make clear that I do have a legitimate version of XP so I don't need those. Someone suggested that I go to Windows Update and bingo it made me install

• Update for Windows XP (KB898461)
• Windows Genuine Advantage Validation Tool (KB892130)

According to the KB article, the XP update should only be required for downloads from Windows update or if I use automatic update. I do neither. I apply my patches manually because I like to know what get installed on my computer and only choose the ones I need - the more that gets installed, the greater the chances that something else goes wrong. GenuineCheck should have taken care of WGA and the fact that I can download the msi proves that. Having ran out of options I sheepishly clicked the next button and followed the bouncing ball. Voila Windows Defender was installed in flash.

This proves to me that once again, anything other than the "default" way of doing things would not work smoothly. Ok I can accept more overhead on my part because I choose to have more control over my system. But with no error messages or indications of what is really wrong, I am forced to conform to the default, even though the extra steps required aren't documented requirements.

So much catching up, so little time...

Yeah I've neglected this blog a little lately... been almost 4 months since I last posted. I promise I'll try and be more attentive - at least one post per month.

So let's see what 's been happening in my life lately.

Up till July it's been the conference and nothing else. It turned out great and I'm happy about the result. We didn't quite get our ambitious target of 120, but we got 100 so I can't complain too much. Still slaving away on the post event report.

Got into the nitty gritty of Oracle Text and lodged my first tar ball! I was a little disappointed with their support though. Yes they did give me quick responses, but they weren't the answers I was after. I had to repeat myself 3 times to get a straight yes/no which was all I was after.

I'm off the TechEd in Sydney from 22-25 August. You can catch me there if you're going. This is my first time attending the full conference. There'll be a lot to take in and I will be wasted afterwards, but it will be fun :)

I find myself tuning to ABC classic when I have my radio on... scary thought huh? I know zilch about classical music but I find it more soothing than some of the crap they keep repeating on B105. They are repeating so much that even the good chart toppers make me feel agitated.

I did plan for a nice tax refund... damn HECS I only got around $600 back.

I NEED to catch up with my friends. I have been so out of touch it's not funny. Yes I've been to drinks and lunches with some of them but I want to see everyone. I might round up the troop for something in the next month.

And last but not least, I discovered Maggie Massaman Curry mix. Tops!!

Buses (shakes head)

I was an hour late for work today. After waiting for 40 minutes for the all stop bus which is meant to come every 10 minutes, I finally got on a bus just after 9am. I missed the last express because of that so there was no point getting off the all stop bus. I ended up at work at 9:30am, which meant I was late for a meeting as well. Public transport (sigh).

Need secure storage anyone?

If you have some important data that you need to stow away where confidentiality is your first priority, and you have some deep pockets, than check this out.
ULTRA* Secure Hosting hosts its data centre at an ex nuclear bunker that is under 30 metres of earth and concrete. This is some serious physical security! Hmmmm I wonder if only some of the companies at the WTT had their data hosted there...

Hitch

Organisation for the July conference is underway. We are way behind time and really should have made a start last year. I can't say it's not my fault at all but if the person who will be doing most of the work couldn't do it then, there is nothing to co-ordinate.

Just when I thought we are off to a good start, an idea from the branch chair turns into a hitch in the plan and is stressing everyone out, especially those at the branch office who will be doing most of the work. It sounds good on the surface, especially when he is so convincing that it will be good for the ACS. But I think otherwise.

It's time for lunch so I may post the suggested idea later, or not at all, depending on whether i get pre-occupied with my 3 season supply of Smallville first :)

Back to work

After a nice 10-day break it's back to work tomorrow. The first few days of the break was like forever, then the rest of the week just flew past. I can't believe I used to have 3 whole months off while I was at uni. What did I do with my time then!! I guess like many things, I don't appreciate it until I don't have it anymore :(

My wireless router has been acting up, just when I decide to use its wireless feature after having that turned off for a few months. I have tried everything - rebooting, changing the channels, changing the security settings (including disabling wireless security. That's naughty I know but I have to prove that the router is stuffed) and turning off the zero wireless config service in SP2. DHCP just won't work and the network disappears after a random period of time. The wired network is fine and I've had no problems for the last 10 months. The only thing that has been changed was that the laptop was upgraded to SP2. Now wasn't that supposed to provide better wireless functionality? Good thing though is that I am not the only one experiencing these problems. There are stacks of ppl having the same problem with that router. I should send it back to the vendor to get it fixed (when I get around to it). Errr I should've read the forums before buying the router...